Republican Strege files for recount in Branchburg

BRANCHBURG  Arlene Strege has filed for a recount in the close June 7 Republican primary race for a three-year seat on the Township Committee.

Superior Court Judge Yolanda Ciccone's order gives the election's nominal winner James Schworn until July 22 to show cause as to why the recount should not be conducted. The voting machines remain locked and the results of the election won't be certified before then.

Schworn won the election 443-434, but was surprised by the narrow margin. He had been endorsed by the Township Committee and by Republican party regulars and had predicted that the election would be a vote of confidence in the committee. In campaigning house to house, he found feedback about the Township Committee to be “very positive,” he said.

James Schworn

Attorney Ann Leitkauf of Branchburg is handling the case for Strege. She was to deliver Judge Ciccone's order to Somerset County election officials today.

Strege's strong showing didn't surprise her. Support for candidates not aligned with the the committee has been growing for years, she said.

She said she filed for a recount for a number of reasons, not just the closeness of the outcome. There were also “irregularities,” she said. Voting machines in two districts had had problems and were replaced, she said, and voting tickets “didn’t match up.”

She seeks a review of all voting machines in all the districts, as well as the authority tickets and poll books, provisional ballots, emergency ballots and absentee ballots.

According to Jerry Midgette, administrator of the county Board of Elections who will conduct the recount, Strege probably shouldn't get her hopes up. Midgette, who had been an elections attorney before taking his present post five years ago, said that recounts “rarely, very rarely make a difference.”